BOOK REVIEW: “Ruling Ideas. How Global Neoliberalism Goes Local” by Cornel Ban, Oxford University Press, 2016, 314 pages

Mihály ZOLTÁN

Authors

Mihály ZOLTÁN PhD Candidate in Sociology at Babeș‐Bolyai University Cluj‐Napoca, e‐mail: mihalyzoli66@yahoo.com

Abstract

Cornel Ban’s book provides an economic and historical narrative of two distinct articulations of neoliberalism: the case of Spain and the case of Romania. These two compelling cases are presented as vastly different from each other. Spain on the one hand represents a moderate market economy, and thus seen as embedded neoliberalism, with numerous social measures aimed at regulating the free market impetus. On the other hand, Romania is regarded as a more radical case, having newly adopted this type of market economy, termed disembedded neoliberalism. The book is structured into four parts, each with two chapters dealing with different aspects of the two cases. For the purposes of this review, the chapters discussing Spain will be combined into a continuous narrative, likewise for the case of Romania.

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